Elena smiled apologetically, just as a terrible scream issued from a near by room. The doors swung open revealing a headless body, but Elena was too preoccupied by something else... The hand pulling on hers.

Instantly, images filled her mind of the vampire's life... Demetri's life. Yes, that was his name... Hastily, she pulled her hand from his, breaking the connection. Pulling her hands in front of her, she hurried to shift her attention towards the doors which Demetri was indicating for her to go into. She took another quick glance at the body Matilda was holding, and shuddered. Curious, she wondered what happened to him, why he was killed.

Of course, it would have been easy enough to figure out, but Elena shuddered again at the thought of having more images in her head. Demetri's past was still in the back of her mind, but she tried to shut it out, not wanting to be distracted as she tried to negotiate for a place on the Guard... and for her life.

Elena swallowed once, before entering into the doors. The room was large and spacious, but Elena wasn't focused on the decor... her attention was upon the many vampires that occupied it.

"Elena. A new recruit for guard." Matilda mused back at Nora, her lips pulling into a warm smile before she fell silent again.

"Nora, glad you can join us. You know how Aro loves an audience." Demetri greeted, not bothering to turn back to look at her.

Nora smiled back at Matilda and continued to follow Elena and Demetri.As the group approached the doors, they suddenly opened and out tumbled a headless body. Matilda picked up the body and moved it to the side.

"Clean-up outside, one got away" Nora quipped to the guards standing inside the doorway as she followed Demetri and Elena inside. Nora was interested to see Aro's reaction; Elena's reaction to the new surrounding suggested she may have a gift, which would make her a sure thing - Aro loved collecting. Nora herself would probably never had gained a guard position if Aro hadn't favored how well her gift paired with his.

(are we able to feel when Elena sees our pasts or not? So I can keep that in mind next time.)

Demetri's face fell serious as the lot of them entered the great hall. (Are we sure this isn't Harry Potter? ) The entire perimeter of the room was lined with guards and at the farthest end of the room were three large antique thrones. In their place were the three masters, who stared intently at their newest potential collectable.

The girl seemed to slow down and he gave her an encouraging nudge when Aro started to raise.

"Ah, there is the girl of the hour. Welcome, welcome." Aro beamed, getting up from his throne to walk towards her.

(Hm... Why not? Maybe when she sees other's pasts, they have sudden flashbacks?)

Elena took in the vampires before her. There where many vampires in the background, though they weren't the ones to worry about. Instead, Elena was focused upon the three thrones in the front, which where occupied by the three oldest vampires Elena had ever seen. They where the Masters.

As Elena looked on nervously, she felt Demetri nudge her forward. Carefully, as though treading on glass, she stepped forward, towards the thrones. The vampire in the middle, Aro- Elena supposed, came forward, greeting her with hands outspread. "Ah, there is the girl of the hour. Welcome, welcome," he said, his voice light and smooth. The look in his eyes was curious. Elena submerged the instinct to shudder away at his intense stare. Instead, she gave a deep nod of her head in respect.

"Hello," she said, her voice echoing upon the walls. "I thank you for allowing me into your presence. My name is Elena, and I would be honored to be apart of the guard..." Her voice faltered, fearing she may have been too forward. "That is, if you find me worthy..."

"I suppose we'll soon find out if she's as worthy as she claims to be...won't we?" a voice rang out. Elena's eyes flicked to the speaker briefly, as she bit her lip. It was a small girl... one that didn't look very dangerous... but Elena knew better then to judge a book by its cover. The girl would be dangerous, if one got on her bad side.

"Well, we shall see." Aro answered in turn, changing Elena's attention to him. Her eyes widened at the hand he held before him. It was pale, and looked almost brittle to the eye. Just by looking at it, she could see the age of its owner. She continued to bite her lip, her calmness gone. He expected her to put her hand in his... but with a vampire, as old as Aro was... Elena was sure it would not be a pleasant experience for herself...

Hesitantly, willing herself not to jerk back, Elena stretched out her own smooth ivory hand to meet his. Upon contact, she nearly fell over, though managing to keep herself upright. An explosion of images and thoughts flowed through her head. She barely had time to notice that not all that what she saw was Aro's own accounts. There where millions of images and such from vampires spanning across the centuries, along with Aro's own...

Elena sagged slightly, unable to find the will to move her hand away from his. Instead, she stood with a blank expression, save the shock/amazement/fear showing in her wide red eyes. Beneath the currents of images flowing between contact with Aro, she found bits of herself... and prayed that the floods of the past would soon go away.

(No you can feel free to just jump right it! God knows that we need more activity here. *pats away dust clinging to e-chair and sits down* Nicholle, do you want to write out what Aro sees since it's all in Elena's head or shall I?)

((I think you should Emma!! Doesn't seem like Nicholle's gonna be back for a while :/ Oh, and I'm also modifying my power a bit. Johanna now has to touch someone to read their mind for the first time, but once she's familiar with your "voice" she can find you anywhere... Alright, here I go! ))

The Sun was just beginning to set as Johanna walked through the gates of the Volturi's castle. The fading rays of sunshine fell on the fading stone and gave the whole setting an eerie cast. Joha chuckled quietly to herself at the clichéd thoughts running through her head. When the thoughts lost their amusing quality, Johanna remembered why she was walking through these gates in the first place.

After years of wandering aimlessly, 63 years to be exact, Joha had decided to find a purpose. This was a little difficult, you see. She had woken up 63 long years ago in a clearing with no memory of who she was, or had been more importantly, and no idea of what she had become. She lurked at the edges of society and listened with her mind, for she discovered that she could see and hear for miles around. She listened until she remembered how to speak properly and watched until she remembered how to act. But when it came down to it, her thirst overpowered everything. The next thing she knew, she was speeding through small, nondescript towns, killing whenever she felt the thirst that tinged her sight red. Killing was fun at first, she enjoyed the hunt like any other predator, but soon she found out about her other talents.

She found that upon touching someone, she could not only hear the beating of their heart but also the whirring of their mind. She could hear what they were thinking. It felt natural too. See, with no memory of how she used to live, hearing everything felt completely old-hat. She became even better at cornering people at the right moment and began to kill more often and less carefully.

She was soon approached by others of her kind who warned her of the Volturi. She had laughed it off at first, foolishly assuming that she was invincible. After listening to stories of people who had watched entire clans wiped out because of similar foolishness, Johanna sobered up a bit. She then began to learn as much as she could from these nomads.

They told Johanna all about their way of life and soon she too began to travel from place to place, controlling where she killed and how often. She also developed a healthy fear of the Volturi, something the other nomads agreed was necessary to survival. But, travelling from one side of the country to the other and back again can get boring after so many years, and that is precisely why she was here.

After having taken a few steps onto the castle grounds, Johanna stopped and listened. And when she heard no one, she made her way to the entrance of the castle and knocked delicately, hoping someone would open the door and save her the embarrassment of walking in uninvited.

((Wow... I wrote a lot more than I meant to... but yeah, can someone come get me? Johanna's a tad bit scared of the Volturi (I felt that was natural for a nomad) and she needs to get over that fear soon WHICH I feel like she will because once she reads their minds it'll be all good ))